Connecting Global Priorities Biodiversity and Human Health

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) have witnessed signicant dietary shifts from nutritious
and diverse local staples to an increased dependence on imported, often unhealthy, foods in the
past few decades, with up to 40% of all imports being food imports in 1986 (Englberger et al.
2003d; 2011). In 2007, it was the second most obese country in the world, with pockets of vitamin
A deciency being among the highest worldwide, despite its abundance of local nutritionally rich
local foods, including 133 varieties of breadfruit, 55 of banana, 171 of yam, 24 of giant swamp taro,
nine varieties of tapioca and many varieties of pandanus in the state of Pohnpei alone (Englberger
and ohnson 2013). There was little evidence of malnutrition, diabetes or hypertension before the
1940s, with vitamin A deciency not documented until 1998, indicating the likelihood that these
were not problems . Englberger et al. (2003d) argue that it was not until a number of US initiatives
started in the 1960s that issues of dependency on imported foods and dietary shifts began and, by
1985, the national school feeding programme provided meals to 30% of its population based largely
on food imports. While access to more diversied foods is not without its benets, an over reliance
on imported foods threatens food security, sometimes leading to foods with lower nutritional
quality, and can contribute to the chronic NCD burden (borne by an already overburdened national
economy), and undermine traditional coping mechanisms and contingency planning developed by
communities to deal with periods of food insecurity. Unfavourable food and trade policies often
exacerbate these problems. Imported chicken and turkey tails are commonly eaten in FSM. These
are fatty o-cuts, which are not marketed or consumed in their countries of origin because they are
considered “health damaging products” and the practice of selling in the Pacic is seen as a form
of “food inequality” considered by some as inappropriate “food dumping” (Hughes and Lawrence,
2005; ackson, 1997). Such practices in the Pacic have prompted a range of trade-related food
policy initiatives aimed at creating a healthier food environment (Thow et al. 2010; Snowdon and
Thow 2014).
to encourage healthy local food alternatives are
needed (GRAIN 2015), despite the government’s
efforts to put in place food regulations that aim
to improve the availability and accessibility of
healthy foods in schools (Roberto et al. 2015).
One example of an initiative to create healthy food
environments in schools has been the Brazilian
government’s changed food procurement policies
during President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s term,
which favour and support the production and
consumption of non-processed, fresh and locally
produced foods and provide greater equity to
farming families (Roberto et al. 2015). Swinburn et
al. (2015) also point out that the early momentum
to better link agriculture and nutrition⁷ must be
maintained in order to achieve the goal of healthy,
sustainable, equitable and economically viable
food systems. Among other things, this should
include efforts to concentrate on the preservation
and strengthening of national food sovereignty
and agro-food biodiversity, and the creation of
sustainable diets. They also emphasize the need
to include global goals to reduce obesity and NCDs
in the UN’s Post-2015 Development Agenda.
⁷ See Key recommendations for improving nutrition through agriculture and food systems. http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/
user_upload/nutrition/docs/10Key_recommendations.pdf
116 Connecting Global Priorities: Biodiversity and Human Health